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Shabby chic shelving ideas

Many ‘shabby chic’ shelves feature pretty cut out wood designs, scalloped edges and other quaint features, but you can further enhance the shelves yourself with a few decorative touches:

Many shelves are flat painted all over which makes them look a little too shiny new. ‘Age’ the shelves by gently rubbing them with sandpaper where they would naturally rub over time. This gives them more of a shabby chic appearance. Make sure you test the effect in an unseen area first.

Add pretty bunting along the shelf edges. This can be attached to natural string, lace or ribbon and be made from pretty floral paper cut into triangles and folded over the string at the top, or cute shabby chic-style fabric sewn into triangles with a pocket for the string. Here’s a great DIY fabric bunting tutorial that involves no sewing (you can of course make the triangles much smaller for little shelves and shelving units).

Add lace to the shelf edge. This can transform even the most boring shelves into a pretty vintage display! Mod podge is great for getting really professional long lasting results here. Apply a layer to the shelf edge, gently press on your lace and add a further layer over the top.

Line the back of a shelving unit with shabby chic paper. You could use wallpaper in a pretty print – small florals, butterflies, birds, bird cages or script are all popular choices. For smaller units you could use pretty craft paper like our packs of 24 romantic paper prints and small floral paper prints.

Alternatively line the back of a shelving unit with pretty fabric or lace for a gorgeous cottage style finish.

Add decoupage to the shelf – this is a great way to give natural wood units a shabby chic feel! Napkins and mod podge are a great way to use this technique and get sweet motifs for your shelves.

Repaint the unit in your own choice of pretty paint colour – then when the paint is completely dry, gently ‘scuff’ it with sandpaper for a shabby chic effect (you can find more on painting furniture shabby chic style here).

Add little hanging decorations – stuffed or wooden hearts on string, ribbon or lace are really popular. You could add small screw-in hooks to your shelving to make it easy to attach the decorations. Check out this lovely little set of 6 vintage hearts that would be perfect for the job!

String a pretty garland along the edge of the shelves with small flowers and/or leaves. For shelving units buy a long garland and cut it up into sections.

Add a row of pretty fairy lights to the shelf edge – buy battery operated lights and just blu tack the battery unit under the shelf out of sight.

Add a few pretty artificial flowers to the shelf. Sometimes hair clips can be a great way of doing this, allowing you to easily attach the flowers without glue.

Add small stencilled motifs over the shelves – there are a great selection of these on Amazon for next to nothing.

Meet me:

Hello, I'm Jen and I'm the creator of The Shabby Chic Guru. I'm a 38 year old consultant and mummy of 4. I live in a Victorian house full of quirky furniture, large ornate mirrors and small children with sticky little fingers. I love all things shabby chic and vintage, cute babies, dinosaurs and wine.